Thai Foods Worst Representatives

[sabaijai]

I dig kaeng som, especially southern Thai style kaeng som, and bamboo shoots, esp the NE Thai salad, sup naw mai, very groovy too, one of my favourite Isan dishes, period. Love naam phrik kapi, too, all the stuff I used to turn my nose up a long time ago, I totally see what's cool about it now.

24 years to go then for me, give me a chance.

Hereby granted ....

Imagine how long it might take some Thais to appreciate cheese, marmite, etc.

You really know someone's a Thai food newbie when they pull aside the phak chee (coriander leaf) gracing some Thai dishes. Many yanks are accustomed to it from Mexican food but I've noticed a lot of Brits and northern Europeans can't handle it at first.

[bina]

pak chee (cilantro) in israel is similar but less strong... also, those who hate and those who love it... used in lots of mid. eastern cooking, salads etc....

i love anything goat the thai that work with me will NOT milk (hand milking which means hands smell like goat milk afterwords), and hate the smell of any of the dairy products we have in israel goat, sheep or cow: here we eat lots of leben, white cheese (sort of chalky wet spreadable cheese that i also hate), etc.... they think it stinks: on the other hand, the smell of pig intestine smells exactly as it it: 's==t smell.!!! and though i will eat pork, the intestines whether bbq cooked in soup etc i do not touch, EVER!!

as a child i was required to taste anything put in front of me since father worked for gov't and often had diplo. friends from all over so ate at restaurants a lot: learned how to eat with choptsticks before fork, ate ethiopian raw meat at age 10 etc.... had an uncle that lived in new guinea that ate fat caterpillars....

my kids have kibbutz mentality unfortunately: shnitzel, chips, salad, humous pita thats it: i'm working on it though

still cant eat salad for breakfast (isreali style) but can eat thai food spicy in the a.m., go figure!

my 'thai' garden is a main attraction on the kibbutz for all the culinary gourmet people: thats why i asked for names of things: the different eggplants (which i'm allergic to); etc. people even ask me for recipes and go to see the workers' garden which is absolutely gorgeous and exotic, and all edible (instead of flowers)...

dara thanx, maybe can do recipe exchange here : like list people's wives/husbands faves and recipes, region its from, etc...?? i have an anthropological interest in food anyway as well as an iron stomach....

[meadish_sweetball]

Very good example, coriander is one of those things you balk at at first try but then grow to like so much it may almost become an obsession.

A friend of mine who came here as a long-term tourist, newly converted to coriander, always went to the fresh market to buy a bundle of coriander before she went out to find a restaurant to eat for the night. She would then say, please make a dish that goes well with lots of this. :-))))

I really like most of the Thai dishes I have tried, but I am not big on insects, intestines and knuckles, or undercooked food - which seems to hold a special place in many Thai persons' hearts.

But aqcuired taste is definitely what it is about. After the initial period of eating lots of stuff, most kids go through a period where they have to decide what they like and dont like, part of finding your identity I guess. Thus, I would not eat any kind of cheese or ham for the longest time - I think I tried my first cheese sandwich at the age of 12 or 13, before that I flatly refused. Same thing with pizza.

It is fully possible to grow to like new stuff with time. I havent been around Thai food for as long as sabaaijai, but I came to Thailand with the general attitude of "Thai food is great", and of course ate mainly at the tourist places during my first trip - plenty adventure for me to try a fried rice with chicken or clear noodle soup with pork. Had my first red curry, thought it tasted weird but kept coming back for more because I wanted to know why other people were so mad about it.

I have had periods of eating one green curry or Tom kha kai every day for two months... and when I first tried neua and moo daed diaow I was totally infatuated... not to mention when I had my first Som Tam without plaa raa.

The first time I had sai krawk Isaan I thought it was shit, but now it is one of my favourites, especially the sour kind...

There's just lots to be found.

Seriously, I cant see why people in this forum always have to bring up roast lamb? It's alright but nothing special in my mind. I'd much rather have a nice barbecued chicken, Thai style (no, not undercooked).

Apart from the Jesus connotations, is the roast lamb some kind of Commonwealth nationalist symbol?

[chuchok]

Seriously, I cant see why people in this forum always have to bring up roast lamb? It's alright but nothing special in my mind. I'd much rather have a nice barbecued chicken, Thai style (no, not undercooked).

Apart from the Jesus connotations, is the roast lamb some kind of Commonwealth nationalist symbol?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Depends on where you come from I suppose. Brits,Kiwis and Aussies have it readily available and quite cheap.The smell of roast lamb stuffed woth rosemary and garlic gives me the horn! ..well not really, but close.

[DJ Pat]

Black Canyon

S & P

Two of the worst outlets masquerading as food outlets. If they had a "Good Food guide" here, they'd put a brick through their window.

[The Gentleman Scamp]

Black Canyon

S & P

Two of the worst outlets masquerading as food outlets. If they had a "Good Food guide" here, they'd put a brick through their window.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is not good food I agree, but compared to that mentioned in my opening post what they have to offer is ambrosia.

[Dara]

Black Canyon

S & P

Two of the worst outlets masquerading as food outlets. If they had a "Good Food guide" here, they'd put a brick through their window.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Never tried Black canyon, but agree with you about S&P. The funny thing, though, is that many of the S&P frozen entrees, and Thai desserts too are actually very good. I even recognized that their frozen desserts were served at a restaurant by Rama VIII bridge. Go figure....

[Boatabike]

The Thai food i find most uneatable, in fact most unapproachable, is the rolled Blaa muk (squid) dried, heated then rolled with something out of your grandmothers laundry days. Normal served from a motor bike and side car set up with the charcoal burner, which incidentally is quite dangerous to follow if your also on a motor bike in a strong wind! I find that my nostrills tend to start twitching and jumping as if they are trying to take leave of my face when one is withing 10 meters of me, the smell of the offensive item is, well offensive! I must confess i have never actually tried to eat the stuff, although why anyone would want to sink their teeth into something that smells that bad and looks like a very well used odour eater from a time share training shoe is quite beyond me, so i will stick with my ignorance of the actual taste in deference to my sensitive nostrils! But the majority of Thai food i love.

[meadish_sweetball]

Black Canyon

S & P

Two of the worst outlets masquerading as food outlets. If they had a "Good Food guide" here, they'd put a brick through their window.

Dont know which Black Canyon you go to, but some of their crossover dishes are high quality - their salmon phat khii mao and the kaeng khiaow waan spaghetti have been good everywhere I have tried them.

SP is a different story altogether though, they serve substandard Khao San Guesthouse type farang food for a ridiculously high price, thinking as long as it has ketchup and a slice of tomato and cucumber on the side, it is bound work. Dont waste your time there.

[Plus+]

Ghee is an essential ingridient of any Indian food, and it's the healthiest choice of fat available (I don't know about olive oil). The food I had in India is nothing like what I get here. South Indian, North Indian - it's just not the same. Many of the local restaurants serve muslim food anyway, not "proper" Hindu, and certainly not what the Indians eat everyday.

Thai food - being vegetarian I can't comment on rotten fish adding a new dimension to somtam. Even the juice they squeeze out of rotten fish doesn't excite me. Yet there are certain tricks that always win my heart.

"Yam" mix of lemongrass/lime/chilly/sugar is wonderfully simple and tasty. Crushed sticky rice in "lab" trully adds another dimension, and so does "khatee". "Gaeng Som Tai"is the taste I can't refuse, no matter how spicy it is. "Pad Kee Maw" is very simple but is nothing like I've eaten before.

I sort of agree on all those ghastly things Thais choose for their meat, but the tastes themselves are not nearly that bad.

Pumpkin with those little red onions, brown sugar, and a dash of soya souce - how much easier can it get?

[steverino]

Mrs Balibirs in Soi 11 used to be great but it went down hill after she become a TV Star - The Vindaloo is still great if that all your after.

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Yeah, that used to be great, but you're right, just after the star tv programme she neglected the cooking side, and left it to a minion who wasn't up toher high standards. She is actually a Malaysian, so not really ethnic Indian, but it was good. I haven't been going there for ages but maybe I should give it another go. It's in Soi 11 and a half if anyone else wants to try it.

[piet pompies]

Gentleman, interesting post but you probably would not like Foie gras( panfried gooseliver) with a glass of Sauterne or an overripe Gorgonzola with pears and a glass of Barbera.....not even to mention Boudin Creole ( spicy blood sausage from the Caribbean) with an ice cold Red Stripe( beer).

Your post has actually given rise to some good Indian restaurant ideas, maybe a post on Thai area by area for us in Bangkok would be good from my side I suggest...

Try Ruen Maalika in Soi 22, always good clean tasteful presentation nice setting at night. Also Mom Royal Thai cuisine in Suk Soi 49, ( far down) very nice food, a bit out of the way though. Face and Hazara in Soi 38 has Indian and Thai food, not the greatest food but a lovely compound of old houses worth a look and a drink.

Great fresh food, prepared and unprepared at the Or Tor Kor market opposite Chatuchak.You can get everything, good Sai Ua, wonderful fish baked in salt, freshly squeezed juices, vegetables, definitely worth a try. You can also order Somtam without MSG or crab. Gentleman Scamp, just go and look!!!

[steverino]

Ghee is an essential ingridient of any Indian food, and it's the healthiest choice of fat available

You gotta be out of your mind...it's probably the most health damaging!! As for the food you've had in India, you got to remember there are many countries where Indian communities have their own styles and ways of eating; large communties exists in East Africa, the UK, the States, and South East Asia, especially Malaysia, apart from the obvious Pakistan, Sri Lanks, and Bangla Desh.

Most cooks in the UK are Bangla Deshi, so they are a big influence on style and flavours in the UK, but if you go to The Red Fort in Soho, their chef is actually decended from the great chefs of the Mogul empire, which is mainly Mongul cuisine found in the sikh regions of India, where they don't eat rice with their food, but Naan and Chipatti etc. Rice is predominantly eaten in the south with vegitarian dishes. My friends familly live in the Himalayas but they are veggie too as cannot get the meat, but when they go to town they will eat meat as a special treat, though I'm not sure if it's Mutton or Chicken. But my friend says you have to watch out for the bone splinters, just as you do here in Thailand at some places.

[sabaijai]

Yeah, that used to be great, but you're right, just after the star tv programme she neglected the cooking side, and left it to a minion who wasn't up toher high standards. She is actually a Malaysian, so not really ethnic Indian, but it was good. I haven't been going there for ages but maybe I should give it another go. It's in Soi 11 and a half if anyone else wants to try it.

Vinder Balbir is ethnic Indian, born in Malaysia.

[Totster]

Depends on where you come from I suppose. Brits,Kiwis and Aussies have it readily available and quite cheap.The smell of roast lamb stuffed woth rosemary and garlic gives me the horn! ..well not really, but close.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I had roast lamb with all the trimmings last night.... can't beat it IMO. That is the ONLY meal I truely miss when in Thailand

totster

[jayenram]

The Indian restautrants here in Samui are &lt;deleted&gt;, but i've been trying in Sukhumvit area too, and there's a couple on the brink of greatness. Anyone know a good one?

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Personally I go for the Buccara (but I can't spell it) whenever I'm in Bangkok. I find the food acceptable to my taste. It's on Sukhumvit between sois 7 and 9 if I remember correctly.

[The Gentleman Scamp]

Last night my brother cooked roast beef and yorkshire pudding with gravy, steamed carrot batons and broccoli florets with roast potatoes, after a starter of tomato and mozzarella cheese slices with a balsamic dressing and sprig of mint.

I didn't really miss Thailand whilst consuming this meal but I did this morning after expelling the resulting stool.

I reached for the bum gun and there wasn't one.

Funny, the little things you miss.

[Pink Mist]

as long as that's the only thing you missed scampy

[Jai Dee]

I reached for the bum gun and there wasn't one. 

:D

[Totster]

Last night my brother cooked roast beef and yorkshire pudding with gravy, steamed carrot batons and broccoli florets with roast potatoes, after a starter of tomato and mozzarella cheese slices with a balsamic dressing and sprig of mint.

I didn't really miss Thailand whilst consuming this meal but I did this morning after expelling the resulting stool.

I reached for the bum gun and there wasn't one. 

Funny, the little things you miss.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I s'pose I'm lucky.... I've got a Bidet.....

totster

[The_Moog]

carrot batons

'carrot batons' = something quite militaristic, 3rd Reich, and Orwellian.

What's wrong with carrot-shaped carrots?

[Boatabike]

Thought of another dish that i cant bring myself to try, chicken foot soup! All thoes little bones by the side of the plate when finished look far to much like baby finger bones to me. Has anyone actually tried it? Can't be a lot of meat on a chickens foot. I am sure that thoes that eat it must like it but....

[Gary A]

I have found Thai food to be an acquired taste and eventually addictive. The variety is amazing. Like many farangs, I still CAN'T stand the horrible smelling pala. I WON'T even try the fried insects and the little stinking bony fish and squid are also not in my diet. I like som tom WITHOUT the crab dead long time or the rotted thick fish sauce. If my wife forgets to tell the restaurant NO puk chee, she has to sit there with chop sticks and pick out every little piece of it or I can't/won't eat the food. No chitlin's or chicken feet either. My wife is a great cook and I seldom get the same food more than once a week. I nearly starved when I first got here because I couldn't eat spicy food. I got over that and now even add peppers to some dishes.